Liquid distributing apparatus



Patented Oct. 14, 1947 UNITED] STAT LIQUlD'DIST RIBUTINGAPPARATUS I Allen Shores'man, Chicago, 'iIlL as signor to)" Universal Oil Products Company, Chicago, Ill.', a corporation of-Delaware w Application S eptember so, 1944, Serial Nb. 556,569

1 Claim. (c1.,261-1io) This invention relates to an improved type of I a ous slots or notches which act as outletweirs to liquid distributor for use in a packed tower, or

between contactbeds in a reaction or reactor chamber." u t This particular form of the apparatus which constitutes the invention was devised principally tray, the inner circumferential break the liquid into 'a multiplicity of small streams as it flows out of'th'e tray andonto, the contact bed below. The upward-flowing vapors through the chamber can'rise through the round to be used'betwe'en contact beds in a vertically disposed tower orchamber where more than one'be'd of packing or contact material is used;

There -ar'e many types of chambers wherein the annular space formed by the trays outer center opening'ofthe lower tray as Well as through edgeand the 've'ssel'wall. 'I'he'vapors can con-,

Raschig rings, quartz chips, or other-forms ofpacking are used as contact beds for countercurrent contactof liquids andvapors. -Theefliciency ofsuch towers depends primarily upon uniform distribution-of the down-flowing liquid tinue upwardly around the intermediate deflector plate and on through the central openin of the ,1 top deflector ring. These'upper two elements through thepacking, therefore it is desirable to; provide-a distributing means for the liquid to uniformly-and centrally supply it to the bed of packing.' 4 g 1 It-is also desirable in towers or chambers having longsections of packing to redistribute'the liquid-at. spaced .intervals to prevent channeling of the liquid through only a small portiomof'the packing. ,The proposed apparatus provides-anfi eflicient means forredistributing the descending liquid passingfrom one section of, the bed to another. I I

Anotheradvanliage of the distributor is that it can efiicientlybreakup anddistribute a liquid stream from. an intermediate feed conduit, com-' ing into v themchamber, aswell as simultaneously act to redistribute ,channeled streams from an upper to, a lower contact bed. i It is often desirabletohave an i'ntermediatediquid feed line cominginto a vessel in addition'to one at the top. There is a further desirable featurelin'that all of the distribution of the liquid feed can be taken care of by the, elements of the proposed distributor itself, thus allowin a single feed conduit to be used and eliminating the necessity er branch piping to feed at several points overany:

given distributing tray. I

' Broadly 'the'new'form ofdistributi'ng apparatus comprises three horizontally disposed ele ments, the upper element, deflecting liquid streams descendingfrom above along the outer periphery of the vessel, an intermediate plateshaped element for deflecting any liquid streams descending centrally through the vessel, and a lower element which collects the deflected liquid streams fromzthe' above two elements, redistrib;

vapor does not have to break through a solid sheet of the descending liquid.

The amount of space between the elements 1 should of course be such as toallowthe ascending vaporsto have adequateare'a 'for passage therethrough. It is also important of course that the'upper two elements extend in'a manner such as to cover the openings at the level of the lower tray, -'so that direct fall of liquid streams from one bed to another is prevented, this feature should be. automatic, however, if the construction is such that the overflow from the top ring and from the'intermediate plate, falls directly into the lower tray,

It is also contemplated that a plurality of drain or weep holes may be placed in the bottomof the lower distributing tray of the apparatustogive additional outlet streams if they are desired or needed to'handle the quantity of descending liquid.

r This apparatus forliquid distribution which comprises the invention maybe found Vparticu-- larly useful in various treatin towers inconnection with hydrocarbon conversion processes, for i instanceit may be used in a caustic regenerator.

For the particular caustic regenerator wherein this type of distributoris adaptable, caustic which hadbecomefouled and contaminated with meth- I anol and mercaptan products must be freed of y the contaminating material by the useof superheated steam. ,The fouled caustic entering the top of the vessel gravitates downwardly through a deep Raschig ring bed while superheated steam uting the liquid centrally to the contact bed b eentering the bottom of the vessel rises upwardly contacting the liquid and, carrying off the meth- V anol, and mer'captanjs in vaporous form at the top of .thevessel. The caustic liquid has a tendency to quickly channel itself against the vessel wall and the distributing apparatus placed at inwall has numer- A The accompanying drawing and the mu s; description thereof will serve to better illustrate the invention and its advantages. I h b Figure 1 shows a sectional viewthrough the distributor as installed in a vessel.

Figure 2 shows a Dlanview of the lower tray and is taken as indicated by the line 2-2. y

Referring now toFigure 1, the shell-of the tower of chamber which contains the packing material; and the distributor is marked I. The upper bed of packing materialis marked 2, while the lower bed of material indicated is markedjil. Thism'a-' terial as before mentioned maybe any one of several types of contact material or it may be a catalyst, also beds 2 and 3 may or may not be alike depending on the particular process in-' yolved. The upperbed of material 2 is supported on a screen or grating 4. Immediately belowthe grating 4 is the upper element f the distributing apparatus, this ring-shaped upper element; 5 acts to deflect the descending streams of liquid that are channeled against the outer. shell I' ofthe tower. The'inner peripheral edge of this top ring 5 is upturnedand serrated by a series of notches 8, the notches as shown are 'V-shaped,

however'they may be rectangular or any other desired shape. The angle member I should be continuous around the inside of the shell wall I and should be welded or otherwise well secured to the shell as it serves as the support for the grating 4 and the deflectorelement 5. The intermediateelement 8 is around" deflector plate having an upturned edge, the central portion of" the plate 8 is made humped-upor cone-shaped, thus descending liquid streams'are deflected and overflow the edge through a series of serrations 9. These serrations 9, like the ones in 6 shown above may be of a different shape than that shown, their principal requirement being to break the overflowing liquid intoanumber of small streams. The dam-like upturned edges and serrations 9 and 8 of these upper elements Sand 8 tend to give'equal flow therefrom'inaddition to breaking the overflow into a multiplicity of streaniswhich' allow easy vapor flow upwardly through theentire distributor. The lower collecting elenient I0 is a ring-shaped traywhich collects the down flowing liquid streams from the upper elements 5 and 8. The inner circular wall H of the lower tray Ill is provided with aseries of notches or slots I2 which are placed equally around this en-' tire inner wall I I and act to'redistribute the liquid to the bed 3 below. This inner wall H also may act to support the intermediate deflector 8 by means of bars or legs I3. These legs l3" may be welded or otherwise suitably secured to the plate element 8, but should be det'achably secured by means of bolts I to the wall ll, thus providing a manway through the distributing apparatus.-

A drain hole l5 should be provided to remove the liquid contained in the tray II) in the event of a shut-down and drainage of the entire vessel is .4 desired. Further, a circular series' ofsuch drain or weep' holes may be provided if additional dis charge capacity is needed from the tray III." How ever, one or the; principal advantages" dithis invehtion isobtaining the redistribution or the escending liquid to the center of the contact bed .below, sothat the building up or a" liquidlevel' some similar adjustable means; with these ad;

justers H in" turn being supported from lugs or" clip' angles 18' which may be welded or suitably secured to' the vesselshell' l. The leveling screws flare a desirable feature so that the tray" in and: the liquidlevel'in the saidTtr ay can be adjusted t0 give substantiallyequal flow through all of the slotsaround the entire inner wall ll. b

I The fee'd line I9 is" optional since intermediate feed lines'are used in' someve'ssels and; for certain treating processes only. The drawing with the feed conduit l9 however illustrates the way a, liquid feed may be distributed to the bed oi!- pac'king material in an even. manner without the use of sprays or branch feed lines, along with the down-flowing liquid from the bed' 2' above. In a orientationof the supporting lugs and'other'pieces all of which are numberedthesame as in Figure 1.

To give an example of the operation of the distrlbuting apparatus reference will'be made to the previously mentioned caustic regenerator. Channeled streams of liquid descending through the Raschig ring bed 2 will run thrbugh the grating 4 onto the deflector elements 5 and 8. These pieces having upturnedserrated edges break up any concentratedstreamsinto a" number of small individual streams, and the liquid bein'g' thus divided allows the ascending steam and entrained vapors to pass upward without having to pass through 'a sheet of liquid. These small streams of the caustic liquid pour into the tray II)" which collects and then evenly redistributes the liquid through" the slots l2. The'risingvapors at this point may pass between the individual streams,

formed by the slots 12; and ascend through the round central opening as well as though the annular space between the" tray Ill' and the shell I. The caustic liquid is thus deposited centrally to the lower'bed of rings 3,'wherein it soon spreads out and is contacted by the rising superheated stea'm'which has been fed in at the bottom of the regenerating tower.

A merc aptan absorber is another vessel-wherein the invention is'particularly adaptable. The gasoline withmercaptans entering the absorber at the bottom flows upwardly through the contact beds 3' and 2, countercurrently to caustic, which enters at the top of the vessel, and to concentrated methanol which enters intermediately in the contact bed through a headline such as feed conduit "I 9. Both the caustic and methanol being heavier than the gasoline gravitate down and are given even distribution by the apparatus in their downward flow through the contact bed;

. The caustic and methanol absorb out the merc'aptans from the gasoline as the contact is made amuse in the bed allowing the gasoline to be drawn off the top of the vessel substantially free of mercaptans.

It is of course not intended to limit the use of this type of distributor to the previously named process chambers, as it may well be used in any chamber having packing material and for any type of liquid flowing downwardly therethrough, counter-current to an ascending vaporous or liquid material.

The drawings and description may infer that the various component parts are fabricated from sheet metal or plate, however, it is within the scope of the invention to cast the various sections. In either case the material may be carbon steel or oi a suitable alloy, depending on the types of liquids or vapors involved in the process.

I claim' as my invention:

In a cylindrical contacting chamber having a pair of vertically spaced beds of solid contact materlal, the combination of a ring shaped deflector depending downwardly and inwardly of the chamber from the lower peripheral portion of the upper bed of contact materialand having a central opening below said upper bed, an annular trough disposed between said deflector and the lower bed of contact material, the inner wall of said trough 6 v forming a cylindrical overflow passage above th central portion of said lower bed and the outer wall of the trough being spaced from the walls of said chamber to provide an annular vapor passage around the trough, and a conical deflector disposed between said ring shaped deflector and said trough in vertical alignment with said central opening and cylindrical overflow passage and overlapping the latter for, diverting into the trough liquid descending from the central portion of the upper bed through the central opening of the ring shaped deflector.

ALLEN M. SHORESMAN.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number 

